Today’s dedicated Nintendo Direct has revealed new details on Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, the next title in Nintendo’s social sim series headed to Switch and Switch 2.
Hosted by long-term Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, the 20-minute broadcast introduced a look at the latest entry in the Tomodachi series — the first in over a decade. Within the first few minutes, Nintendo answered one of fans’ big questions of the game: whether it would cater to same-sex relationships, following a previous controversy.
Nintendo makes good on promise for Tomodachi Life to become more “inclusive”
Players will be able to set their Mii character’s “dating preferences” with a combination of three options: Male, Female and Non-binary. The game notes that players “can pick one, more than one, or none.”
Memorably, the series’ previous game Tomodachi Life experienced a backlash over its lack of same-sex relationships, something Nintendo was forced to comment on after rumors spread online that they had been cut from the game, prompting commentary from late night TV host John Oliver — who broadcast a skit featuring Mario and Link snogging. Notably, Nintendo then promised that if it did make another Tomodachi Life game, it would make it “more inclusive, and [something that] better represents all players.”
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream’s dating preferences screen.
Today’s broadcast comes just days after a separate Nintendo Direct focused on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie that debuted our first look at Yoshi, Birdo and more. And already, there’s speculation about another upcoming Nintendo Direct — this time a major, full-fat version expected to lay out more of the company’s 2026 release slate.
More to follow…
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
